I love you's not enough

Last night I was lucky enough to be able to see one of my new favorite bands, Jukebox the Ghost play their entire new album live for the first first time with 140 people. This was also my first time seeing them (and surely not the last!). I will be be posting a review of that show soon, but for now I have the need to discuss somebody else. This is a band that does not need to be discovered. They are a band that everybody in the world knows. If you were to tell me that you have never heard of this band, I would play you all 9 of their albums and all 32 of their singles until you recognized a song, because everybody. And I mean everybody under the age of 50 has heard at least one song by Green Day. In fact, their live shows don't have an average age. I have seen this band 14 times, and every single show (except for the Secret Show at The Studio which was 19+) I have seen people from the ages of 3-65. No exaggeration. I've also met people from an array of different states and countries, as well as traveled to 5 different states including California to see them myself.

I have seen probably every interview on the internet of this band. I have heard every song they have ever publicly released or played live, and seen approximately 61 out of 110 their original songs played live. I have laughed, cried, screamed, ran around in circles, made the best friends in the world, worst enemies, because of this band. I have spent hours just counting down the days until I see them next, celebrated anniversaries of album releases, and concert anniversaries. In fact, the three year anniversary of my very first show is in just a few days. Yes, that is right, I saw Green Day for the very first time on May 18th, 2009, just three days after 21st Century Breakdown, the follow up to American Idiot was released. Did I mention it was at the Bowery Ballroom? I have done it all: seen them with 800 other people, 200 others, at 6 in the morning on Good Morning America, at their hometown show in the Bay Area in California, two nights in a row sold out at Madison Square Garden, on my best friend's 18th birthday with her onstage singing with them, in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Okay so I guess I technically haven't done it ALL, but I've done a lot and I never ever plan on stopping.

In the past year I have discovered so many other new, upcoming bands that I can now proudly say hold a spot as one of my favorite bands. Because of this, I listen to Green Day less than I did a year or two ago and some days when I'm listening to Jukebox the Ghost, Coyote Campus, Frank Turner, or even The Killers on repeat I wonder if I have lost my love for Green Day. But then I will find myself watching TV at 3am thinking that there is nothing good on, and suddenly "Green Day Behind the Music: Remastered" appears on the screen. Now I know Green Day's entire history and I could write a book about it, in fact I wrote a ten page biography on them for class in 11th grade (yes, I got an A+ on it). I have also seen this program at least ten times, but watching it again is just a reminder of every reason that I fell in love with this band. It isn't even just their music that I love- it's the fact that they have been together for 23 years and still love each other to death. They love each other enough to keep making albums and touring the world and inviting hundreds of their fans to sing, dance and play on stage with them. While I haven't met them personally, I know many people who have and there has not been a single negative word said about any of them. 

For anybody who says that Green Day sold out, you have been extremely misinformed. This band has and continues to do everything for the people who love and support them. They may have however many dollars to their name, but it is not about the fame. It's about doing what they love which is what makes me love them so much. I can't say that they saved my life, because I would still be alive without them, but I can proudly say that my life would not be even close to the way it is today without them. The people I have met through this band, the places I have been, the experiences and knowledge I have gained, and the emotions I've felt are indescribable. I could write on this blog about them forever, but nothing describes the feeling of listening to, feeling, and seeing this band. Green Day will always hold a special place in my heart until the very moment I die and even beyond that.

My first Green Day show dream.

Bowery Ballroom

May 18th, 2009

Dancin' on stage with a MASSIVE crowd on stage next to Mike Dirnt.

Mountain View, California

September 4th, 2010

Dancing with a smaller crowd on stage.

Mansfield, Mass

August 16th, 2010

Dancing on stage with Mike Dirnt wearing my devil horns. 

No sleep for 2 days, traveled 14 hours each way all in two days just to 

see the Foxboro Hot Tubs play their first (and so far only 1 of 2) shows on the east coast.

New York, New York

April 23rd, 2010

My best friends, Ashley and Melissa. We met on a Green Day livejournal community 

in 2006 and have been the best of friends since then. I don't even want to think about what 

my life would be without these girls, and I would have never met them if it wasn't for Green Day.

Brewster, NY..... on the way to Hartford, CT.

July 24th, 2009